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UN committee endorses principles for protection of child migrants

Xinhua, September 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

A UN committee on Monday endorsed principles to guide governments, NGOs and other stakeholders in actions concerning children on the move and other children affected by migration.

The UN committee on the rights of migrant workers and members of their families also expressed alarm about the situation of children, particularly the human rights violations they face at all stages of migration.

According to committee chair Jose Brillantes, the recommended principles set out in simple terms that the best interests of a child should be a primary consideration in all actions concerning them, and detaining children because of their parents' migration status constitutes a child rights violation.

"The principles are vital tools to help uphold international human rights standards regarding children affected by migration," the official said.

The committee said it hoped the recommended principles would be part of the discussions at the high-level meeting on the large movement of migrants and refugees in New York on Sept. 19, and at the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Dhaka in December.

"As the principles state, no child is illegal," Brillantes highlighted, adding that detention was never in the best interests of children and states should take efforts to end this practice.

The recommended principles were developed at an expert meeting in Geneva on May 12 that included participants from the UN Human Rights Office, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organization for Migration, UNICEF, among others. Endit